What are the general thoughts on Michelle Trachtenberg? I think she’s a pretty little thing, but I don’t have an opinion on her talent or her personality. She seems kind of bland to me, but then again, I was never into Buffy. I’ve never gotten the needy-famewhore vibe off of her, and she doesn’t seem to be one of those hyper-ambitious girls just dying to see her name in the press. So this new interview with Michelle seems out of character. Michelle drops this bombshell: she was up for the role in Bella Swan in Twilight. Can you feel the Twihard Fatwa coming down on Michelle? I can.

Michelle Trachtenberg was a vampire slayer’s little sister on Buffy, and she could’ve fallen in love with a creature of the night on the silver screen, too!

The 26-year-old actress told Us Weekly Wednesday at the opening of LOLA in NYC that she was indeed considered for a role in the Twilight films. “There was definitely interest here and there because there’s only so few pale girls in Hollywood,” she explained.

“I’ve known [director] Catherine Hardwicke since the movie Thirteen,” she said. “I was actually supposed to star in that, but I was on Buffy at the time.” (Hardwicke, who went on to directed the very first Twilight film in 2009, directed the saga’s star Nikki Reed in the 2003 drama and Evan Rachel Wood played the film’s primary character. Reed cowrote the gritty screenplay.)

So why did Reed, Kristen Stewart and Ashley Greene end up as Breaking Dawn’s leading ladies instead of Trachtenberg? “I guess schedules never worked out,” she explained.

But the Gossip Girl star doesn’t want to speculate how her life would be different if she’d starred opposite Robert Pattinson in the blockbuster films. “[Hypothetical answers mean] you’re not living in the moment and you’re looking negatively at what you’re doing now,” she mused.

I’ve read way too much about Twilight, but I’ve never heard anything about this. I thought the casting story went like this: Catherine Hardwicke’s first choice for Bella was always Kristen Stewart (who at that point was fresh off of Into the Wild, which got her a lot of attention) – Kristen was offered the part and she said yes immediately. All of the casting drama was with Edward, and it took months for Robert Pattinson to be cast. Isn’t that how it went? Or was there a “search” to find the right Bella and several actresses were considered, including Michelle Trachtenberg? Or is all of this just wishful (famewhore) thinking on Michelle’s part?

And in a parallel universe, what would the world be like if Michelle had been cast as Bella? Would Robert Pattinson have fallen for Michelle instead??! OMG.

I thought she was cute ” rapping” the Nicki Minaj song. I agree with some of the comments a lot of younger girls in the 18-23 year old range was up for the part even the chick from the movie “Sucker Punch” I heard was asked to read for the part but it was schedule conflict.

‘There was definitely interest here and there because there’s only so few pale girls in Hollywood’…??? So they only considered her for the part because she’s pale? Bitch please. There are billions of pale chicks out there.

As a Buffy watcher she will always be the annoying and shark jumper character Dawn.
It must suck for an actor to be type cast. I do try not to hate on her for this and I know its not her fault but damn, her appearance on Buffy was the writing on the wall.

ITA. The Dawn storyline was THE worst part of Buffy. However, I’ll always cut her slack because she was on the show. If they picked her for Bella, I don’t think she would have done any worse than Stewart. Just because MT was the worst part of one THE best shows on television doesn’t mean she couldn’t be the best part of a corny movie franchise.

@Normandes, I thought the spin-off was supposed to be with Faith’s character?

What? You can admit Twilight is not good, Dawn ruined Buffy, but you think KS is smart and beautiful? I really want some of the bud you’re smoking, because that girl is a classic Rat Face. You got your Puppy face girls, Foxy Face girls, Rat Face Girls, Mousey Face girls, Lion Face girls, and etc etc. same for men, same animals. People just have that face and if you try hard enough you can see what animal they resemble. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like rats.
MT is a puppy face, so shes easy on the eyes. But that Dawn voice, the attitude they wrote for her, not to mention the fact that she sucked at delivering her lines, adds up to a crappy actress that just so happens to be pretty.
Hollywood is shallow, low, and toxic. No sense is sugar coating an opinion on an actor.

Hautie, that was Amanda Bynes. MT is one who got into a girlfight with Ashlee Simpson over Pete Wentz. :/

I thought MT was considered for the role but ultimately lost it because of her Buffy connection? As much as I dislike her snotty elitist attitude, I do think she would have been better than K-Stew. However I wonder if there would have been any chemistry between her RPattz?

Well she’s pretty that’s true. She was annoying as Dawn (Although I loved the Spike-Dawn scenes). I’ve always heard that she has an awful rep on shows which is why she guest stars but isn’t ever a full cast member. Like she’s so competitive with the other females and does her best to tear them down. All internet gossip so who knows how much of it’s true. But I definitely get the bitchy vibe.

“Or is all of this just wishful (famewhore) thinking on Michelle’s part?”

Yes yes and yes. If there could be anything worse than watching KStew pout her lip for 2 hours (x5), it would be having to do the same with Michelle Trachtenberg. Also, any Gossip Girl fan would outright disown the Twi movies if she were in them – and there’s a lot of crossover btwn those 2 audiences.

that’s the story I always heard (kristen stewart being immediately cast and them reading the other guys w her)
maybe she meant she was up for one of the vampire girl roles? She does mention being pale and yeah, Bella is pale bc she lives in forks, but the really pale ones are the vampires. So maybe she was up for Nikki Reed or Ashley Greene’s roles.

Dear celebitchy,if Michelle was cast there would be no Robert Pattinson for Edward,everyone knows from Catherine own mouth that she wanted Shilon Fernandez for the role of Edward,according to a interview he did,the part was already his but he and kristen did not get along and he lost it for rob,kristen was the one who told Catherine it had to be Rob or she wont do the movie.

KStew may have said that, but that’s just movie PR feeding the whole Bella/Edward in real life thing. Henry Cavill was also very lose (Myers or Hardwicke really wanted him for the role but he was considered a touch too old). Believe it or not even Miranda Kerr was considered for Bella!!! Emily Browning would have been awesome in the role.

Not to be completely off-topic, but MAN, she needs to knock it off with the bottom eyeliner. She has round eyes. We round-eyed girls need to avoid weird, thick lower liner because it makes us look like we have M&M’s for eyes.

People mainly cared about Edward because that was the most important person to get right. How do you cast the most beautiful man in the world but someone that could still give the vibe that Edward gives. Impossible casting. It’s a miracle they found Rob and that’s thanks to Kristen. Bella just had to be any blah actress with pale skin that could play a plain Jane. There was really nothing controversial or particularly hard about casting this role so not many stories about it. I think Kristen seems like the best choice of all the actress I’ve heard mentioned so far.

She doesn’t say she was considered for Bella, she says she was considered for “a role.” And given the pale-skin comment, she implies it was a vampire part. So maybe Alice? I could see that, and I can also see why they didn’t want anyone associated with Buffy.

I’ve always read that she is a raging B, from a bunch of revealed blind items and things…so everytime I see her on the red carpet or she opens her mouth (especially when she tries to “act”), I just roll my eyes. Can.not.stand.her. And I may be in the minority, but I do not think she is pretty at all.

Physical features, personality/attitide or even talent wise, ALEXIS BLEDEL (imho) is suited to be Bella Swann – though she’s way too pretty or even older for that role; but she’s (still) got these “baby face” features so I bet she could easily passed up on that age thing…

I used to be into the Buffy series and i think she was GREAT! OMG I’d love for her to be Bella. Think of how great Twilight would be instead of the eyerolling K-stew in it?? Holy mother, the Vampire world would be totally different! And don’t even get me started on Sparkles! He’d totally fall for her hehe

it was probably for Alice. Emily Browning was the FAN favorite for the role, and could have been given some consideration if she had a little more power. But I think it was decided pretty early amid the powers that be that Kristen was getting the role.

Anybody other than KS would have been perfect for Bella. I am not into that shitty franchise and I can see she was horribly miscasted. Nikki would have been perfect for that role too. Or, that Emily chick.

Can I mention she doesn’t say she was up for ‘Bella’ but for a role in Twilight. She may be talking about Reed or Green’s character. Especially with the ‘there’s only so few pale girls in Hollywood’ comment.

all i know is i’m still pissed i missed the opening of a show, because those fucking twilight people wouldn’t get the fuck out of my cafe before closing. really did they have to give their twilight character names back then and hang out in a bookstore to see if anyone would notice them?

I actually really love Kristen Stewart in the role of Bella. She dosen’t get much to work with as the character of Bella is written so passively in the books. Remember she is being directed a certain way. All of Kristen’s director’s, producer’s, and fellow actors have nothing but praise for Kristen and her professionalism. Their opinion is the only ones that count.

I actually agree with you. She’s always struck me as a perfect Bella despite what everyone thinks of her acting. Like you said, she’s a fairly passive character. She’s also shy and hates being the center of attention. KStew strikes me as being fairly similar.

I personally have always thought that she loves acting but hates all of the attention that she gets. Just watching her interviews makes me so damn uncomfortable sometimes.

-Yeah, because it’s such an Oscar worthy role. She didn’t miss out anything. Plus, I find her too beautiful in a conventional way to have played Bella. Stewart is beautiful too but more unique, not in your face.

- Ummh, I loved Buffy and still do. More for SMG and her posse and the main vamps (Drusilla was my idol, go figure). Her character was annoying.

I think DAWN was whiny … no matter who played her. I never liked the whole Dawn storyline at all. Whether a different actress playing her would make her less “poor little me/whiny/annoying” is debatable. I think that was how the character was written.

I actually enjoy MT in Gossip Girl thou.

As for Twilight – I couldn’t give a flying eff about anything Twilight and think KStew is completely overrated all round.

Kristen had just come off her role in Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild”-she was getting a lot of praise right around the time they locked her in for Bella. I seriously doubt Michelle was the frontrunner for it. Stewart was young, pretty unknown to the public, but had some industry praise at tbat moment in time.

She was great as Georgina in Gossip Girl, which is currently my new shameful addiction. I watch the first few seasons while doing laundry. Because unlike my husband, I can’t just sit while I’m watching t.v. Things still have to get done.

Anyway, the acting on the show isn’t that great, but I really enjoyed MT as Georgina. Funny how her and Leighton have the most baby-ish faces on the show and they played the most evil characters.

The only thing I have ever seen Michelle Trachtenberg in was “Mercy”. And I enjoyed her in that TV show. I can’t even begin to say how bad Kristen Stewart was in Breaking Dawn. She had one expression during the entire movie. Same face for happy
Same face for pain
Same face for sad
Same face for anxious

She alone was responsible for that movie sucking. So even though I don’t know much about Michelle Trachtenberg. Anyone would have made a better Bella!!!
Even my cat would have done a better job.

What an interesting thread, that Shiloh dude looks like Robert Pattinson and a little like Dave Barnes. If it was possible for Laura prepon and Jessica biel to have a child Michelle looks like a mix of them.

In my opinion the casting was spot on, Kristen was right for Bella,she has a bit of naiive edgines about her. It was great that she and Robert were relatively unknown actors when the movies were first made.

For everyone being all “I would’ve liked RPattz with Michelle so much more”, please remember that without KStew, *there is no RPattz*. Shiloh Fernandez said himself he was ready to sign the contract when at the last minute Kristen threatened to drop out of the project unless they cast RPattz. Catherine Hardwicke and Wyck Godfrey, the producer, have also told that story, that *Kristen* insisted Rob be Edward. So if you really want to recast Twilight with Michelle Trachtenberg, then you have to also redo edward as that Shiloh guy. Because Rob would not have gotten the job unless Kristen fought for him.

I’m sure that Michelle probably talked to someone at some point about Twilight. They auditioned a ton of people for it. But Catherine always said Kristen was her first choice based off Into the Wild and the praise Emile Hirsch had for her. Actors do this a lot, go, “Oh, I could have been in that,” when really, no, they couldn’t. I mean, just look at Jessica Biel.

Also, while I generally like Kristen, I hate her in Twilight. I think she’s awful, but then I read the books and realized Bella is just a terrible wet blanket character. All that blinking and stuttering everyone harps ons? Bella does that in books! So now I think that while Kristen is bad in Twilight (so is everyone), I don’t think she could really do much better. There is just nothing to work with in terms of character.

But yeah, while you’re busy hating on KStew and wishing for Michelle, remind yourselves you woulnd’t have Rob today without Kristen.

But I think the actresses that lost out to Kristin actually dodged a bullet. These roles in Twilight have defined most of these actors careers, especially Rob P. K.Stewart and I’m not saying that in a good way,I just feel like most actors who get these solid iconic fan movie roles, will never be able to live the characters down becoming typed cast, and I know this is a reality cause it has happen to so many actors with or without talent.

ITA. The Trio’s non-Twilight projects tanked at the US box office because they can’t get Twi-hards to show up in droves at those movies. They can’t attract non-Twilight fans because they are seen as hacks in some quarters. Universal is rolling the dice with KS for its Snow White. Hiring her because of Twilight and her nasty attitude (the director’s words) is not a good move. They still have to prove they can make money outside the franchise or their careers are over.